March 2018 Disneyland PTR

[VandVsmama]

Hi everyone!

We are venturing out to CA again for another Disneyland trip! Here's our cast of characters:

• me (Mom)
• DH (Dad)
• ODD - in 6th grade
• YDD - in 4th grade
• DSis - my sister!

My sister has not been to Disneyland in over 20 years! She normally HATES theme parks, but really wants to try out the DCA Food & Wine Festival because she's a total foodie person. She was really funny when she proposed this trip to us. She said, "Did you know that DCA has a food and wine festival? How come you never told me about this?"

I was like..."MY SISTER WANTS TO GO TO DISNEYLAND?!"

She asked me if we'd want to go with her.

Um...HELLO?! IS THE SKY BLUE? Yes, of course!

 

[VandVsmama]

So first, where are we going to stay?

Earlier in the trip planning, I suggested to my sister a few different options of off site hotels along Harbor Blvd. We'd get our own room and my sister would get her own room. We could save some $$ by staying at a hotel that included free breakfast, etc., etc.

My sister said, "Nah, I was thinking of the Disneyland Hotel. It's on my bucket list to stay there some day. I'll pay for the room. We'll all stay together in 1 of their 1-bedroom suites." WHAT?!

The kids are over the moon excited about this. As am I, of course!

When will we be there?
Checking in on Thurs 3/22 and checking out of the happiest hotel on earth on Saturday 3/24!

How will we all get there?
My sister lives in London, so she's going by plane, arriving in LAX on 3/22. Her flight doesn't arrive until ~ 4 pm. And she'll have to go through customs, baggage claim, and then pick up her rental car. She's pretty certain that she won't get to the hotel until around 7-7:30 pm.

As for the rest of us, we live in Phoenix, so we'll be driving. From where we live, it's a 5.5 hour drive. We're going to rent a car so we don't have to put a ton of miles on our old road warrior cars.

 

[VandVsmama]

What time of day to leave?

This is what I'm debating and I need some opinions! The kids are going to miss 1.5-2 days of school for this trip. Normally, we NEVER take them out of school for a vacation. But we planned this trip when the kids were in a different school district and we switched schools part way through this school year. So now what WOULD have been their spring break at the old school is actually the week AFTER spring break at the NEW school. Ack! And because of my sister's overseas flight and HER trip planning stuff, we couldn't really move the dates.

So here are the options...
I'm trying to avoid hitting afternoon/evening rush hour traffic once we get to the Rancho Cucamonga area. I've run a couple of different options in Google Maps and here's what it looks like:

OPTION 1:
Leave Phoenix 8:30 am
Arrive @ DLH by 3:40 pm.

• Google Maps says it'll take 5-7 hr to drive this. I think that 7 hr is definitely on the long side. If it's ~ 5.5 hours like I think it is, if you factor in 30 min for bathroom breaks, we'd get there around 2pm.
• In this option, the kids skip all of Thursday for school and they do homework in the car on the way to DL.
• My sister has authorized DH & I on the reservation to be able to check in without her.

OPTION #2:
Kids go to school for the morning. DH & I pick up the rental car when it opens at 8 am. We pack up the car, have a nice leisurely grown-ups only breakfast without children, and then we pick them up at 11:00 am and hit the road.
Leave Phoenix 11:15 am
Arrive DLH by 6:35 pm.

• Google Maps says this will take 5 hr, 20 min to 7 hr, 20 min. I think that with the traffic in east LA/Orange County, 6:35 arrival time is probably accurate? What do you think?
• And again, the kids will do any homework in the long car ride to Anaheim.

I'm leaning towards doing Option #1 so the kids will have time to swim the awesome DLH pool during the late afternoon. The last time we stayed at the DLH, the kids were only 4 and 6 years old and not old enough to go on the water slides. Now they're definitely big enough and they can't wait to try out the water slides!

Plus, we have reservations at 7 pm for the 4 of us to do The Void's VR Star Wars experience in DTD! DH doesn't know about this. It's a surprise. He's a huge gamer guy and I know that he'd love it. The kids are both old enough and meet the height/weight requirements in order to do it.

So I want us to have enough time to settle in at the hotel, relax a bit, have dinner, etc. before we do the VR thing!

 

[VandVsmama]

DH, ODD, YDD & I are now officially Disneyland veterans and I know how to tour the parks well enough now that we don't have to follow any sort of strict itinerary like the Full House clipboard of fun.

BUT.....

Remember how I said that my sister HATES theme parks? Our family has 2 main goals for this trip:

1. Keep the ride wait times < 20 min each.
2. Make sure that my sister has a good enough time that she actually wants to come back and do this again!

A few years ago, I went to London to visit my sister and we did a sisters-only tour of London, Paris, and Brussels. It was a lot of fun and I didn't have to plan anything. She was the tour guide and handled all of the decisions & logistics. This time around, I'm in the Cruise Director role and she is along for the ride. So I'll share with all of you how things are going in the trip planning process. If anybody has planned such a DL trip before for theme park haters, I'm open to your sage words of advice!

Here's the rough schedule overall:

• Thurs 3/22 - we all check into the hotel. DH, ODD, YDD, & I do the VR thing. Everybody gets to bed early.
• Fri 3/23 - DL/DCA day 1!
• Sat 3/24 - DL/DCA day 2. Also check out day, which is sad. :-( Some time on Sat., my sister drives to LA to stay a few days with a close friend. The rest of us spend the night w/friends in Fontana, CA.
• Sun 3/25 - do the sad long drive back home and prepare for returning to the normal world.

I've mentioned this in posts on other people's threads in the past, but my DH can get a serious case of Theme Park Fatigue. It's a real condition and I think that they should add it to the medical ICD code dictionary or something like that. This overall method is what seems to work well for my DH when it comes to keeping TPF away:

1. Get up early. If it's a Disneyland day, WE DON'T SLEEP IN!
2. You want to sleep in? That's totally fine. Go ahead and sleep in. But the kids and I are going to be there for rope drop with or without you! Just meet up with us later when you're ready.
3. #2 gets DH every time. He's so predictable. He doesn't want to miss out, so he hustles and out the door we go!
4. We stay at a hotel within walking distance.
5. We have purchased our tickets ahead of time and we don't have to wait in line at the ticket booth to pick them up or anything.
6. We get to the turn stiles 30-20 min ahead of time.
7. We go on rides all morning.
8. Eat lunch IN the parks.
9. Go on a couple more rides.
10. AND THEN WE LEAVE! Go back to the hotel. Rest, watch TV, kids usually want to swim even if it's cold outside.
11. Go back to the parks 4-5 pm.
12. Have dinner IN the parks. Usually ~ 5:30 pm so we beat the dinner rush. Before Max Pass, I'd get a FP before leaving for our break so that we'd have a FP ride to go on in the evening. Usually something popular like Space Mtn or Star Tours. We've often been able to do Star Tours 2x/day this way. My DH LOVES LOVES LOVES STAR TOURS!
13. Leave 9:30-10 pm. 10 pm if we've stayed for fireworks. Go straight to bed.

 

[VandVsmama]

Even seasoned DL veterans like my children can get Theme Park Fatigue and usually at some point in the day, each of the kids gets a case of the Whines. You all know what I'm talking about! It can be like nails on a chalk board. So we follow 1 of Hydroguy's rules...

Everybody picks THE #1 thing they want to do on the trip! Make sure to try and do each of those things on Day 1. Everybody has the attitude/expectation that EVERYTHING ELSE IS ICING ON THE CAKE!
This really does work. Here are THE #1 things for our family:

• me - Fantasmic! We've never seen it.
• DH - Star Tours
• YDD - go on BTMRR w/my sister
• ODD - sit next to my sister on Radiator Springs Racers
• DSis - "I'm happy to do whatever."

It's been so long since DSis was at DL that she doesn't remember ever going on Autopia! That's ok, sis, we're going to fix that for you.

So given our 2 main goals for this trip, I decided to subscribe again to Ridemax (www.ridemax.com). I think I paid about $15 for a 3-month subscription. Here's kind of how it works:

1. You select the date you'll be there.
2. You pick the park you want.
3. You plug in the TIME you'll arrive and the time you want to leave.
4. You select whether you'll use NO FP at all, if you'll use traditional FP, or if you'll use Max Pass.
5. You select up to 12-13 attractions you want to go on that day.
6. Then RideMax tells you the order in which to go on those attractions.

So here's what I have so far for the morning of Friday 3/23. RideMax doesn't yet have 3/23 listed as an option in their website, so I picked the prior Friday as an example. Since this is only a 2-day trip, I know that we won't have time to do everything. Therefore, we have to be selective about what we do with the goals being to keep ride wait times at 20 min or less. Why?

My sister HATES waiting in lines at theme parks.

Sometimes with RideMax, if you don't get the ride wait times that you want, you have to mess with the start/end times and/or pick a different mix of attractions and see what you get. It usually takes me a few iterations of this in order to get the wait times that we want.

Ok, so without further ado, here's what we have so far for the morning of Friday, 3/23:

• Start @ DCA. We'll have EMH 7-8 am. Since EMH starts @ 7 am and only hotel guests get EMH at DCA, we'll shoot for a 6:45 am arrival at the DCA main gate. My sister will have major jet lag so she'll already have been awake for a couple of hours. Being up early won't be a problem for this day. Back when the kids were 4 and 6, it would take us 15 min to walk from the DLH to the main gate, so I think to err on the side of caution, we'll shoot to leave by 6:30 am. But I know that we'll be dragging a little (DH will anyway) and if it takes us longer to get going, that's totally fine! DH can sleep in if he wants to, but I know that he won't because he hates standing in lines.
• During EMH, we'll go on: RSR first, then Luigi's & Mater's. Then go on Toy Story, Soarin', and the Little Mermaid. But I don't remember if Little Mermaid is closed right now for the Paradise Pier redo.
• Once we activate our tickets at the turn stiles, I'm going to purchase Max Pass. Hoping that we'll be able to get RSR FPs a tad early (before regular park opening) using Max Pass. I've read online that it's possible sometimes. If not, we'll get RSR FPs when regular park opening happens at 8 am. The rest of the morning at DCA looks like this on Ride Max:
• 8:05 am - get RSR FP.
• 8:05 am - ride Monsters, Inc. 2 min wait time.
• 8:18 am - ride Mater's again. 13 min wait time
• 8:36 am - ride Luigi's again. 11 min wait time.
• 8:51 am - get Soarin' FP.
• 8:52 am - go on RSR using FP. 16 min wait time.
• 9:26 am - Grizzly River Run. 5 min wait time. NO FP NEEDED! **Make sure I don't forget to bring ponchos for everybody!
• 9:36 am - get Toy Story FP
• 9:39 am - ride Soarin' again. 11 min wait
• 10:04 am - ride Little Mermaid again. 9 min wait
• 10:22 am - Golden Zephyr. 6 min wait
• 10:36 am - ride Toy Story using FP.

This is where the Ride Max itinerary ends for Fri morning! We're skipping Bugs Land entirely. The kids no longer enjoy it. They've kind of grown out of it. We HATE GotG, so we're skipping that. We almost threw up on it last summer when we tried it out.

We'll do Animation Academy after going on Toy Story. Then have an early lunch at the food booths at DCA for the Food & Wine Festival. Well, DH, DSis, and I will. The kids will hate that food, so I'll get them something else to eat instead.

MORE IN THE NEXT POST!

 

[VandVsmama]

Ride Max itinerary for the rest of Friday:

• 11:30 am - get Roger Rabbit FP.
• 11:30 am - Buzz Lightyear. 23 min wait. I think we'll skip this one. 23 min is too long and we won't have time to get into Tomorrowland if we're eating lunch in DCA. We'll skip this for now.
• 12:09 pm - go on Roger Rabbit using FP. Once we park hop to DL, we'll hop on the train and take it to the Fantasyland station, then a short walk into Toon Town.
• 12:18 pm - get BTMRR FP
• 12:20 pm - It's A Small World. 21 min wait.
• 1:03 pm - go on BTMRR using FP. 8 min wait.
• 1:16 pm - Pirates. 20 min wait.
• 1:53 pm - Jungle Cruise. 22 min wait. YDD loves this ride.
• 2:23 pm - get Indiana Jones FP
• 2:23 pm - FREE TIME! We'll walk to Tomorrowland and take the monorail back to DTD, then rest in the DLH!
• 6:00 pm - dinner at River Belle Terrace for the Fantasmic! dining package
• 7:44 pm - go on Indiana Jones using FP
• 8:02 pm - Ride Max says to go to your viewing spot at this time for the 9:00 pm Fantasmic! performance.
• 9:30 pm - Haunted Mansion

I don't think HM at 9:30 pm is going to happen because: (a) NOS will be mobbed; (b) people farther back watching Fantasmic! will get to HM before we will; and (c) if fireworks aren't cancelled, we'll stay in NOS to watch the fireworks.

So I think that we'll try for HM earlier in the day.

After fireworks, DSis is going to take the kids back to the hotel and DH & I get the rest of the night off for late night date night in Disneyland!

 

[VandVsmama]

Here was another option for Ride Max for Friday in DL:

• 11:30 am - it's a small world. 17 min wait
• 12:01 pm - get IJ FP
• 12:01 pm - FREE TIME
• 3:05 pm - get HM FP
• 3:05 pm - ride IJ using FP. 12 min wait
• 3:23 pm - Pirates. 17 min wait.
• 4:00 pm - ride HM using FP. 5 min wait.

Then we'll still do the River Belle Terrace dinner at 6pm and see Fantasmic! at 9pm.

 

[VandVsmama]

Here's what things look like for Saturday:

• everybody up early. Probably get room service for breakfast! Get out the door by 6:30 am to get to the DL main gate by 6:45 am for EMH.
• During EMH: We're focusing on Fantasyland...Matterhorn, Alice, Mad Tea PArty, Mr Toad, Pinocchio. Dumbo will be down. And we won't make it on Peter Pan this time. That's ok!
• 8:05 am - get Star Tours FP
• 8:05 am - Autopia. 12 min wait
• 8:34 am - Carrousel. 5 min wait
• 8:42 am - Snow White. 8 min wait
• 8:59 am - Roger Rabbit in Toon Town. 5 min wait
• 9:08 am - get IJ FP.
• 9:09 am - meet Mickey in his house. 8 min wait
• 9:31 am - BTMRR. 14 min wait. Don't have to use FP for this.
• 9:53 am - go on Star Tours using FP. 8 min wait
• 10:17 am - go on IJ using FP. 9 min wait
• 10:31 am - FREE TIME! This is probably when DSis & I will check out of the hotel. OR we'll have done it earlier in the day at 6am before we leave for the parks. If we do that, then at 10:30, we'll use free time to go on the Davy Crockett canoes, go to Tom Sawyer's Island, go on Winnie the Pooh, maybe get silhouettes done of the kids on Main Street, ride a Main Street vehicle. I'll probably try to get an RSR FP based on what the return times are. Otherwise, we'll get a FP for Toy Story Mania.
• LUNCH TIME - at Food & Wine festival in DCA.
• THEN...maybe see the Frozen show in DCA. Redo rides at DCA that we love. Go on RSR again using Single Rider line. Take some PhotoPass pictures. Maybe try for a FP for Space Mtn.
• 6:58 pm - Jungle Cruise. 14 min wait
• 7:21 pm - Pirates. 19 min wait
• 8:00 pm - Haunted Mansion. 9 min wait.

That's when DH, ODD, YDD & I will leave the parks and drive to Fontana (~ 1 hr away) to spend the night w/friends. DSis hasn't decided yet when she'll leave Disneyland to drive to LA & stay with her friends. In her case, departure time on Saturday will probably depend on how crowded it gets and how tired/cranky she gets...this is why I was thinking of stuff like the Frozen show. Maybe also see Turtle Talk with Crush.

 

[VandVsmama]

Made a Target run today! It started out with "Oh, ODD needs some more flash cards for school, I'll just run over there to get some really quick." Then it spiraled into "Oh, there's the travel toiletries section! What do I need/what can I get for our trip?"

So in addition to flash cards, I came home with....
- a travel toothbrush
- travel sized toothpaste
- travel sized bottle of shampoo. Yeah, I know that the hotel room will have it but w/5 of us, we'll run out.
- travel sized container of spray Lysol - because I'm paranoid about germs in hotel rooms!
- some hand soap - not trip related, we just needed some!
- and some other odds and ends!

I went in there thinking I'd be spend about $3. Went away about $20 poorer. ROFL!

We are now at about 3 week before our trip! The kids drew this cute Mickey on our white board in the kitchen. Looks like our countdown has officially started!

 

[VandVsmama]

Now it's time to talk DISNEY CLOTHES! Our family has officially jumped into the category of Disney fan where we wear Disney shirts or other gear on our trips.

A couple of months ago, I got this great sweatshirt at our local Disney Store outlet for only $20!

** Edited to add **

DH has 2 awesome tshirts to wear on our trip! A family member gave him this cool Jawa shirt for Christmas about a year ago...picture copywright of the Disney Store.


And since the Force is strong in our family, DH is going to wear this one, too...(picture copyright of www.disneystore.com).

 

[VandVsmama]

For YDD who is a fan of all things purple, we got her this tshirt just last weekend...again, at the local Disney outlet. It was only $7.99! It has sparkly thread woven all throughout the fabric. She wore it to school today and was thrilled that her teacher (who is a Disney fan just like us) loves it.


For ODD, I ordered a shirt off of www.teepublic.com. She loves Baby Groot, even though she hates the GotG ride. It's bright pink and has a cute baby Groot on it. Check it out! -->
https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/1674948-baby-groot

 

[Zarina_Stardust]

Love the shirts! The Jawa one is too cute.

I find that whenever I go into Target I always come out with 10 others things I didn't have on my list. I went on Saturday for some hangers and safety pins. Came out with Easter and summer items for the kids.

 

[BrerMama]

Wow! Lots to plan and it's coming up quick. I have to say my first thought was "her sister is flying over from England for two days at Disneyland"? I live in Kansas and won't fly anywhere for less than a week. But I saw she's visiting friends so I guess that makes sense. I hope you have a magical time exposing her to all that we love about Disneyland!

 

[VandVsmama]

She has to be in CA for work anyways, so she's spending a few days' vacation time with good friends after Disneyland, then at work for a few days and then to AZ where we live for a couple of days before she flies back home.

 

[VandVsmama]

RideMax finally has our dates up now on their web app!

Here's what I have for Friday morning:
DCA opens at 8 am.
EMH @ DCA is 7-8 am.

• Be in line by 6:45 am for 7:00 am EMH.
• During EMH, go on RSR, Toy Story, then back to Carsland for Luigi's & Mater's.
• 8:05 am - get RSR FP using Max Pass
• 8:05 am -go on RSR again using single rider line. 15 min wait.
• 8:40 am - Golden Zephyr. 8 min wait
• 8:52 am - free time. We will probably do Animation Academy during this 40 min window
• 9:35 am - get Soarin FP using Max Pass while in line for Little Mermaid (13 min wait).
• 10:05 am - go on RSR using FP. 18 min wait.
• 10:42 am - Monsters, Inc. 9 min wait. ** Pay attention to beginning of Soarin' FP return time & maybe get a Toy Story FP if my sister & DH really want to go on it again.
• 11:00 am - go on Soarin' using FP. 11 min wait.
• LUNCH TIME!

RideMax says to wait in line for 74 min at 11:30 am to ride Toy Story. NOPE! NOT HAPPENING! We will have a lovely Food & Wine Festival lunch instead! After lunch...hop to Disneyland!

 

[VandVsmama]

For our afternoon & evening at DL, it's interesting how differently Ride Max has things laid out compared to the Friday just that week prior to our trip! I had to monkey around with different ride combinations and then I forgot to plug in when our dinner reservation is at River Belle Terrace. So after screwing around with all of that, this is what we have at the moment for Friday afternoon & evening on March 23. Just sharing this in case it helps anybody decide whether or not purchasing the RideMax subscription is worth it! If it was just our family, I wouldn't have done it this way this time around. But my sister hates waiting around at theme parks.

Ok, so here we go!

• 12:30 pm - get Star Tours FP using MaxPass
• 12:30 pm - go to Tom Sawyer's Island. 16 min wait. It has us over there for 50 min. I think 20-30 min will be plenty for my kids.
• 1:41 pm - Columbia Sailing Ship. 12 min wait. 16 min ride time. I added this to the list because I've never been on this attraction and I think we'll enjoy it!
• 2:09 pm - get IJ FP using Max Pass
• 2:09 pm - FREE TIME! LEAVE THE PARK! Actually, probably take the train to Tomorrowland station. Then hop on the monorail to DTD and then walk to our hotel room at the DLH! So you see...I just added in 2 more rides there!
• 5:03 pm - go on Star Tours using FP
• 5:37 pm - Winnie the Pooh. 12 min wait. We may skip this in lieu of shopping.
• 6:00 pm - dinner at River Belle Terrace.
• 7:01 pm - free time
• 7:16 pm - go on IJ using FP. 10 min wait.
• 7:31 pm - Jungle Cruise. 12 min wait
• 7:52 pm (for 9pm performance) - Fantasmic! 68 min wait. We'll have dining package FPs. Honestly, I have no idea what time we should show up for this in the designated FP area. I need to go do some research here on DISboards and figure that out. I'm hoping to have purchased some sweet treats earlier in the day so we can relax and gather our thoughts while we wait for the show.
• 9:28 pm - watch fireworks from Rivers of America.
• 9:43 pm - FREE TIME
• 10:00 pm - go on Pirates. 7 min wait.
• Then my sister & the kids head back to the DLH while DH & I enjoy the rest of the evening and close the parks with a late night DATE NIGHT!

 

[VandVsmama]

Another option that RideMax came up with for Friday afternoon & evening was this....I might go with this one instead.

• 12:30 pm - get Star Tours FP then FREE TIME
• 4:03 pm - get IJ FP.
• 4:03 pm - it's a small world. 35 min wait. I think we'd probably choose NOT to go on this if it's a 35 min wait.
• 5:03 pm - go on Star Tours using FP. 12 min wait.
• 5:37 pm - Winnie the Pooh. 12 min wait. Again, we'd probably skip it since it's not a favorite. I was just it for a time filler.
• 6:00 pm - dinner at River Belle Terrace.
• 7:01 pm - FREE TIME
• 7:16 pm - Pirates. 19 min wait
• 7:52 pm - Fantasmic! (for 9 pm performance)
• 9:28 pm - see fireworks from Rivers of America.
• 9:45 pm - go on IJ using FP. 10 min wait.
• 10:00 pm - Jungle Cruise. 10 min wait.

This itinerary is actually probably more doable. YDD really wants to go on Jungle Cruise with my sister, but by 10 pm, my sister will be totally tuckered out and she wants to be headed back to the room by then. So I think that we'd probably make Indiana Jones the last ride of the night. Then DSis & the kids take the monorail back to DTD and go to the DLH to head to bed. If my sister isn't totally worn out by lunch time, we can certainly do the Columbia Sailing Ship and Tom Sawyer's Island. Or I'll see how that works into Saturday's plans instead. More to come!

 

[VandVsmama]

For fun, here's what Ride Max came up with for date night!

• 10:45 pm - IJ using Single Rider line. 16 min wait.
• 11:07 pm - Pirates. 6 min wait.
• 11:35 pm - Pinocchio. 3 min wait.
• 11:41 pm - Snow White. 6 min wait.
• 11:49 pm - Mr Toad. 9 min wait.
• 12:00 am - Peter Pan. 25 min wait.

If DH & I **DO** stay in the parks until closing, we better plan on having plenty of caffeine in our systems on Saturday morning because we're going to be there for a 7 am EMH at DL! Yes, I'm insane.

 

[VandVsmama]

For Saturday 3/24, it's check out day.

Here's the plan for rides during the 7-8 am EMH:

• Matterhorn
• Alice
• Mad Tea Party
• Mr Toad
• Pinocchio
• if time, Snow White or the carousel

Then starting at 8 am, we have...

• 8:05 am - get Space Mtn FP using Max Pass
• 8:05 am - Autopia. 12 min wait.
• 8:29 am - Buzz Lightyear. 5 min wait. DH & YDD LOVE THIS ATTRACTION! I find it kind of boring, but I do it because I love my family.
• 8:45 am - BTMRR. 8 min wait. YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE A FP THIS EARLY IN THE DAY! :-D
• 9:06 am - Roger Rabbit. 6 min wait.
• 9:16 am - get in line at Mickey's house to meet him. While you wait, get an IJ FP (because DH loves that ride and this way, he can ride it 3 times in 2 days). 10 min wait at Mickey's house.
• 9:43 am - go on Space Mtn using FP.
• 10:05 am - Pirates. 24 min wait. This is the longest wait of the day. I'm not thrilled about this, but meh...oh well. We might have to suck it up and deal.
• 10:46 am - go on IJ using FP. 9 min wait. Pay attention to when the IJ FP return window opens so I can grab us a FP maybe for something at DCA so we can ride something before or after lunch (like Toy Story or Soarin'?)
• 11:00 am - FREE TIME! NOTE: By this point in the day, my sister will be running out of gas. So we'll take the train from NOS to Main Street station, then leave DL park and hop over to DCA.
• LUNCH - eat lunch at the Food & Wine festival at DCA.
• THEN FREE TIME
• 7:34 pm - Jungle Cruise. 12 min wait.
• 8:00 pm - Haunted Mansion. 9 min wait.

Stuff I like to do during the Ride Max "Free Time:"

1. go to Tom Sawyer's Island
2. sit and watch a show
3. maybe we'll go see the Frozen show in DCA at the 3pm showing of it if my sister is up for it.
4. get silhouettes done of the kids. I think it would be fun for me & my sister to get one of just the 2 of us together to commemorate the one my mom had done of us at Disneyland many years ago. And definitely 1 of the kids. Or maybe 1 of just my sister and the kids!
5. ride Main Street vehicles
6. do the princess meet & greets
7. Animation Academy in DCA
8. Turtle Talk in DCA
9. have a snack and sit on a park bench for awhile and watch the world go by

I'm certain that my sister won't be staying at the parks all day on Saturday because she's probably going to want to have dinner with at her friends' house in LA. So I'm betting that she will hang around until about 3pm or 4pm and then leave after that. So I need to run this again with a 4 pm departure time and see if we can get on Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion without super duper long wait times. More trip planning fun tomorrow!

 

[VandVsmama]

Since we REALLY want to get my sister on Pirates AND HM before she leaves Disneyland for LA on Saturday 3/24, I took out IASW and had the 'end time' of the Ridemax itinerary at 4 pm. Here's what it came up with:

• During EMH: Matterhorn, Alice, Mad Tea Party, Mr Toad, Pinocchio
• 8:05 am - get IJ FP & go on Buzz Light year. 2 min wait.
• 8:13 am - Autopia. 15 min wait.
• 8:45 am - BTMRR (aka fast choo choo!). 8 min wait.
• 8:57 am - get Space Mtn FP, then FREE TIME! YDD said last night that she doesn't want to go on Space Mtn. That's ok! She can shop in Star Trader with DH. Well, actually not much free time because we basically have to walk over to the Toon Town entrance.
• 9:06 am - Mickey's House. 7 min wait.
• 9:19 am - Roger Rabbit. 8 min wait.
• 9:42 am - go on IJ using FP. 8 min wait.
• 9:56 am - Pirates. 22 min wait. I'm happy with this wait time for this ride. another itinerary had it at a 35 min wait, which I think is too long.
• 10:38 am - HM. 17 min wait.
• 11:14 am - go on Space Mtn using FP. 11 min wait
• 11:30 am - get Star Tours FP, then FREE TIME! After we get off Space Mtn, I think we'll take the train to Main Street Statino, then hop to DCA for Food & Wine for lunch.
• 4:00 pm - Star Tours using FP. 12 min wait.